We began our weeklong love letter to Spring Break reminiscing about ‘90s beach parties, DayGlo-clad honeys, and on-the-job penile injuries with the self-appointed King of Spring Break himself, Pauly Shore. Now we talk to the Queen of Spring Break—Daisy Fuentes, the VJ who dominated the fantasies of an entire generation of teenage boys. Here, she takes a trip back to the shores of MTV Spring Breaks past and fills us in on the mischief that thankfully never made it on camera.
**Tell us **how Spring Break all began.
I was just told to pack my bags! It was a big deal for the network at the time. I had been doing **Beach MTV **over the summer, so I was already the girl who was out at the festivals, at the beach, at the parties, just hanging out with the viewers. So I guess because I’d been doing that, it had been a natural progression. I think I started in ’92 or ’93, and I did them all the way to ’96, I think. So I was with the first crew. The first battalion. The front line.
What were the crowds like in those early days?
The crowds were insane. I think people had the idea that MTV was going to the big parties, when in reality it was MTV creating the big parties that everyone wanted to go to. So wherever we set up camp, it was a given that it was going to be mayhem. It was the days—thank God—before camera phones. So there’s not a lot of evidence of the atrocities that went on. There isn’t even any official footage of most of the stuff we did for MTV back in those days. So I’m very fortunate.
Give us an example of some shenanigans that slipped under the tabloid radar.
We had a very well known, married male celebrity come for a guest spot to promote—I forget what the hell he was promoting—and he ended up taking a couple of girls back to his room. And everybody saw it and nobody found out afterward. Today, it would be all over television and there would be all sorts of footage of it.
It never got out?
A lot of stories did not get out. A lot.
How did you decide which party people got to get on camera?
We had a crew that went out and scouted. The boys scouted for cute girls, and the girls scouted for cute boys. The guys would walk up to people with their badge, and when the guys would start flirting with the girls, someone would come in on the walkie and say, "Hey, I got that antibiotic for the infection you got the other day." So as soon as anyone was about to score, they’d sabotage each other. It was like a school yard.
Was there a dress code? Did you have to get the girls on camera to strip down?
No, we usually had to tell them to put more clothes on. Because it was television!
Wait—you made them cover up?
They were borderline inappropriate! You have to understand that in the beginning of all the craziness, there wasn’t a whole lot of editing going on. It was a free-for-all. There was the occasional girl who had one shot of tequila too many and lifted her shirt up. But in those cases, it was like, "You ruined my take! Maybe don’t do that next time?"
You were a goddess to every dude watching MTV at the time. Did any guys get aggressive when they saw you in the flesh?
One year, I stepped down from the stage and one of the guys yelled out, "Daisy Fuentes! You’re so beautiful! I need to have a piece of you! Give me your hair!" And he literally grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked it out. I’m not kidding! He had a fistful of my hair. I almost killed him. Security had to hold me back.
Damn. So you had to have security just off camera?
Yeah, it got to that point. Not at the beginning, but as time went on, the parties became their own animal. You had to take some precautions.
Did you get a lot of fans hitting on you?
I think they were a little scared for the most part! There was some flirting, but I think there was something about me that scared the boys. So they weren’t very fresh with me.
Why do you think they were scared of you?
I think because I was never trying to be the sex kitten. I was always the wiseass, I was a tough Jersey girl. That was my vibe, and I had a great time. But it didn’t invite a lot of silliness.
Otherwise there would definitely have been silliness.
Oh yeah, I had to keep my wits about me.
**Did any celebrities get, shall we say, **weird?
Of course.
So what would you do when the talent started hitting on you?
Oh, it depends on who it was, and how good the line was. I might have entertained one or two of those.
Who was the best, weirdest celebrity guest to party with?
One of my favorites was Martin Short. He and I would just do bits and skits all weekend, and it was like the best improv class that you could take. Cuba Gooding Jr. was great too, and now I consider him a friend after he came back a couple of times. He took to it brilliantly. He could have had his own show. It’s crazy to think that just a few years later, he won an Oscar.
Where did the MTV staffers stay during spring break festivities?
We tried to get rooms in hotels that would give us some space from the craziness, but there was no getting away from it. So the vibe was always very festive.
So what did you do on your off time?
What everybody else did! There were times where I would literally keep going well into the morning. I’d have just enough time to take a shower and roll into work, because we started shooting early. I was normally very good about it, but there was one time when I had one too many. I don’t know if I was hung over or if I was a little tipsy from the night before, but I remember shooting the whole day on a beach somewhere, wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants. It wasn’t very sexy, but it had to be done. I wasn’t even trying to disguise it. I was like, "Guys, I don’t know how I’m going to get through this."
Did you develop a hangover remedy for just such an occasion?
I just tossed my cookies once or twice between takes.